Don't try this at home

The next time you're thinking about confronting someone who pisses you off while driving, you might want to remember Roy Perez, the subject of one of the weekend's most bizarre news stories. Perez, the victim of a hit-and-run in Bellaire, ended up taking a two-and-a-half mile ride on the West Loop on the hood of an SUV.

It started at Bellaire Boulevard and Stella Link, where Perez said 17-year-old Alan Athari, who was driving a Cadillac Escalade, hit Perez's truck and then drove off. Perez said he followed Athari to Bellaire and the West Loop, where he got out of his truck to confront him:

"I got in front of his hood and told him, 'No, you're not going anywhere,'" said Perez. "So he started pressing the gas and I was so scared, so I just jumped."

Perez says he jumped on top of the hood and held on as tight as he could. As they entered the [West Loop], "He kept swerving back and forth, trying to throw me," said Perez.

Perez hung onto the hood for more than two miles, confusing passing drivers who thought they were seeing a movie being filmed. He finally fell off near the San Felipe overpass, where he said Athari ran over his ankle and kept going. KTRK asked Athari if he ran over Perez: "No," he said, "he was on top of my hood." Well, you can't argue with logic like that.

Athari, who turned 17 on Thursday and wasn't supposed to be driving without an adult present, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.